CANCELLED due to flu – we will be having a reading group instead, and Lu will be back after Christmas

Wednesday 22nd November, 1 – 2pm, Seminar room 7 Jessop’s West

Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield (LASS), a voluntary led organisation with the aim of supporting and empowering lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer women who are seeking asylum or are refugees in south Yorkshire was set up in June 2017. This organisation was established as a response to numerous disclosures that were made from lesbian asylum seekers within Sheffield’s refugee community in needing a space where they could be ‘out’, and get specific support for their asylum claims based on sexuality. The plethora of support services that help asylum seekers and refugees in Sheffield were lacking in their tailored care for these women and as a result, LASS was born.

This paper will discuss what it is like to be a LGBTQ+ asylum seeker in Sheffield, the complex issues that these individuals have to face in order to be taken seriously because of their sexuality, the experiences of destitution and detention, and the trauma of what it is like to be at the constant mercy of the UK Home Office. The paper will then proceed to discuss how organisations like LASS are challenging the way LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are treated, and furthermore, the conversations that need to be had both on a local and national level to help refugees and asylum seekers access the support and care that they so desperately need.

Lu Skerratt is a sexual health outreach worker who works primarily with the LGBTQ+ community and those who are seeking asylum or are refugees. They co-founded Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield (LASS) in 2017 with the aim of supporting and empowering asylum seeking LBTQ+ women and non binary people in a local community setting. Lu has a Theology and Religious Studies degree from the University of Leeds, a Biblical Studies MA from Kings College London and undertook the first year of a PhD at the University of Sheffield before realising working in the field was much more suited to them.